A four month trial delay has been granted to a Wausau man accused of beating and strangling a woman to death in 1999.

Forty-four-year-old James Emerson is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 37-year-old Rhonda Mertes.

Joggers found her partially clad body December 4, 1999 in an industrial park.

Emerson was arrested in May 2007 after tests found his D.N.A. on Mertes' body.

Police say both had been at the same bar that night.

Emerson has denied involvement in her death.

The trial was set to begin September 2nd.